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While Illinois may be the only state that does not have some form of concealed carry, it was not left out of the rise in sales of firearms on Black Friday. According to WLS-TV in Chicago, the Illinois State Police reported a 42% increase in the number of applications for Firearms Owner ID (FOID) cards on Black Friday compared to last year. Almost 2,900 new applications were received for FOID cards this year. Bear in mind that these are NEW (would-be) gun owners because once you have a FOID card it covers all your guns and is good for 10...

SPRINGFIELD — A bill that would prevent the disclosure of the names of those who hold a firearm owners identification card passed the House last week and a first reading was held in the Senate Monday. House Bill 3500, sponsored by Rep. John Cavaletto (R-Salem), is in response to a Freedom of Information Act request made by The Associated Press earlier this year, in which the Illinois State Police denied the request. A public access counselor with Attorney General Lisa Madigan’s office ruled the information should be released to the public. “This was a vote to support the rights of...

Amish gun owners in Illinois face a showdown over their religious teachings and their Second Amendment rights, after a change in policy may require them to have their picture taken for their Firearm Owners Identification card, according to the Mattoon Journal-Gazette. The Amish have a religious edict against having their photo taken. Up till now, the state had allowed them to obtain an FOID card without a photo, as is required of every other gun owner. But last month, the state police director reversed that policy, and said photos would be required of every gun owner, Amish or not. The...

In a showdown over the privacy rights of gun owners, the Illinois State Police are refusing to release a list identifying all firearm permit holders in the state after Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan determined that the information "must" be made public. The dispute, which soon could come before a judge, has been building since last fall when a reporter for The Associated Press made a Freedom of Information Act request to the police for the names of cardholders as well as information about the weapons each permit holder is authorized to carry. But the state police, who safeguard that...

I recently went to an auction in Iowa that was selling firearms. The auctioneer stated that Iowa residents could take the guns they had purchased that day home after payment; however, Illinois residents would have to wait 24 hours. Several other states bordering Illinois have similar laws. The FOID card requirement Illinois has is a waste of taxpayer money and time and was created by corrupt politicians for all the wrong reasons. In no way does it hamper a would-be criminal or murderer from buying a firearm. Plenty of guns can be found in the classifieds and online. The FOID...

MEXICO CITY (AFP) – The Obama administration wants to crack down on the sale of assault weapons that are arming Mexican drug cartels, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said in an interview with NBC television. Clinton late Wednesday called letting a previous US ban on the sale of assault weapons expire "a mistake." "I think these assault weapons, these military style weapons, don't belong on anyone's street," said Clinton who pushed for the ban as a New York senator. "During the time period from 1994 to 2004, when the ban was in effect, our police in America were able to...

Attorney General Eric Holder is using the drug violence in Mexico to "confuse and mislead" Americans in an attempt to reinstate the expired federal assault weapons ban, gun advocates say. Get ready for a gunfight. Holder revealed his intention to reinstate the ban last month while announcing more than 700 arrests in connection with a crackdown on Mexican drug cartels operating in the United States. "As President Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to re-institute the ban on the sale of assault weapons,"...

Washington » Utah congressmen are taking issue with the Obama administration's call for a new assault-weapons ban, saying it interferes with the public's right to bear arms and won't reduce crime. The ban expired in 2004 after being in place for 10 years. In a news conference Thursday, Attorney General Eric Holder said: "As President [Barack] Obama indicated during the campaign, there are just a few gun-related changes that we would like to make, and among them would be to reinstitute the ban on the sale of assault weapons." Holder believes the ban would help curb the flow of guns...

SPRINGFIELD -- Illinois gun owners could fall prey to a state bureaucracy that fails to process firearm owner's identification cards promptly. The state's tardiness leaves some otherwise law-abiding firearm owners vulnerable to criminal charges because FOID cards often expire while the state police are still processing renewals. Criminal charges can be filed against any resident who possesses a gun but does not have a valid FOID card. The Illinois State Police agency is required by law to process FOID applications within 30 days. But the process is taking up to 60 business days, according to agency spokesman Lt. Scott Compton....

CHICAGO (AP) - A federal judge in Chicago has ordered Governor Rod Blagojevich released on his own recognizance after the Democrat was hit with federal corruption charges. The governor was arrested at his home Tuesday on charges he conspired to sell or trade President-elect Barack Obama's vacant Senate seat to the highest bidder. U.S. District Judge Nan Nolan said "Good afternoon, governor" in greeting Blagojevich at the afternoon bond hearing. The governor was wearing sweat pants, gym shoes and an athletic shirt. He was released on a signature bond that specifies that he'll forfeit $4,500 bond if he doesn't appear...

U.S. District Judge Nan Nolan said "Good afternoon, governor" in greeting Blagojevich at the afternoon bond hearing. The governor was wearing sweat pants, gym shoes and an athletic shirt. He was released on a signature bond that specifies that he'll forfeit $4,500 bond if he doesn't appear in court. Blagojevich also was ordered to relinquish his passport and his firearm owner's identification car.

You might call what's happened over the past two weeks a FOID-ian slip on the part of Gov. Rod Blagojevich. If there is one thing Blagojevich should know, it's not to mess with the gun guys - and gun ladies. During his 2002 campaign for governor, he was forced to moderate his position on gun control away from his efforts to ban handguns and raise the cost of a Firearms Owner Identification Card to one that more accurately reflected Illinois' diverse population. On the trail, he eschewed legislation he had once sponsored as a lawmaker to boost the cost of...

CHICAGO -- Gov. Rod Blagojevich called for a ban Tuesday on assault weapons in Illinois and said if lawmakers don't send him such a measure he will veto legislation lowering the minimum age to obtain a firearm owner's identification card without parental consent. The federal ban on manufacturing and importing at least 19 types of common military-style assault weapons expires Sept. 13. It isn't clear if Congress will extend the ban, so Blagojevich wants to deal with the matter on the state level. "No one needs assault weapons for hunting," the governor said. "No one should need an assault weapon...

Differing bills must be resolved SPRINGFIELD -- Pitting Chicago lawmakers against gun-rights advocates, the House and Senate voted separately Thursday to lower from 21 to 18 the age at which a person may apply for a firearm owner's identification card without a parent's permission. "If you can go off and fight a war without mom and dad's permission, you certainly ought to be able to go out and shoot a few ducks without mom or dad's permission," said Rep. Ron Stephens (R-Mulberry Grove), a veteran. The firearm owner's card debate came as lawmakers passed legislation ranging from ensuring that George...

SPRINGFIELD -- The Illinois Senate Friday approved legislation to allow retired police officers and former military police officers to carry concealed weapons, the latest example of a growing mood against gun control in the legislature despite the Democratic takeover of both chambers.

I am Vice President of a Northern Illinois water fowlers association. I am appalled that a lawful hardworking individual is being targeted for just protecting his family, his home and everything he holds dear in his life like his child. [See related articles and letters on Hale DeMar and the Wilmette gun ban, below]. Gun laws today basically target and disarm lawful, hardworking folks who in today's times know how criminal the real world is outside. All these lawful folks are doing is just trying to keep the criminal activity outside of their home, not permit it to have a...

German Gun Control and the Illinois FOIDby Raymond BenwoodApril 29, 2002 “Laws that forbid the carrying of arms, disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes.” --Cesare Beccaria, quoted by Thomas Jefferson In 1968 a new gun control act was passed in response to race riots in some of our major cities. From this Act a whole new generation of gun control laws were created in the states. In 1992 Jews for Preservation of Firearm Ownership Inc, published Gun Control: Gateway to Tyranny, which contains the actual text of pre Nazi, and Nazi gun control laws....